has bathed in the waters of
Ganga is seen to shine in splendour, cleansed of all his sins. Those
countries and those points of the compass that are destitute of the
sacred waters of Ganga are like nights without the moon or like trees
without flowers. Verily, a world without Ganga is like the different
orders and modes of life when they are destitute of righteousness or like
sacrifices without Soma. Without doubt, countries and points of the
compass that are without Ganga are like the firmament without the Sun, or
the Earth without mountains, or the welkin without air. The entire body
of creatures in the three worlds, if served with the auspicious waters of
Ganga, derive a pleasure, the like of which they are incapable of
deriving from any other source. He who drinks Ganga water that has been
heated by the Sun's rays derives merit much greater than that which
attaches to the vow of subsisting upon the wheat or grains of other corn
picked up from cowdung. It cannot be said whether the two are equal or
not, viz., he who performs a thousand Chandrayana rites for purifying his
body and he who drinks the water of Ganga. It cannot be said whether the
two are equal or not, viz., one who stands for a thousand years on one
foot and one who lives for only a month by the side of Ganga. One who
lives permanently by the side of Ganga is superior in merit to one who
stays for ten thousand Yugas with head hanging downwards. As cotton, when
it comes into contact with fire, is burnt off without a remnant, even so
the sins of the person that has bathed in Ganga become consumed without a
remnant. There is no end superior to Ganga for those creatures who with
hearts afflicted by sorrow, seek to attain to ends that may dispel that
sorrow of theirs. As snakes become deprived of their poison at the very
sight of Garuda, even so one becomes cleansed of all one's sins at the
very sight of the sacred stream of Ganga. They that are without good name
and that are addicted to deeds of sinfulness, have Ganga for their fame,
their protection, their means of rescue, their refuge or cover. Many
wretches among men who become afflicted with diverse sins of a heinous
nature, when they are about to sink into hell, are rescued by Ganga in
the next world (if, notwithstanding their sins, they seek the aid of
Ganga in their after-years). They, O foremost of intelligent men, who
plunge every day in the sacred waters of Ganga, become the equals of
great Munis and